Baseball To Hit The Road To Durham

April 20, 2000

Clemson, S.C.-Sixth-ranked Clemson (32-10, 8-4 ACC) will play just its second road series of the season when it plays at Duke (14-29, 4-11 ACC) this weekend. Game times are 3:00 Friday, 1:00 Saturday, and 1:00 Sunday. All three game will be broadcast on the Clemson Sports Network affiliates.

Clemson leads the all-time series 92-57-1 dating back to 1904. Last season, Clemson won two of three games against Duke at Doug Kingsmore Stadium. Two seasons ago in Durham, Duke won the final two games of the series after Clemson won game one.

Duke, led by first-year Head Coach Bill Hillier, last played a game on April 16 at N.C. State. The Blue Devils won that game 8-5. Duke is 9-14 at home this season. Despite hitting just .279 as a team, the Blue Devil bats have come alive of late. In the last 10 games, Duke has eight games of at least 10 hits. Jeff Becker leads Duke with a .354 batting average along with four homers, 33 RBIs, and 11 stolen bases. J.D. Alleva is hitting .288 with six homers and 24 RBIs as well. Duke has a .962 fielding percentage.

Duke will start sophomore righthander Patrick Hannaway (1-4, 8.33 ERA) in game one. Game two and three starters will be junior righthander Ryan Caradonna (5-6, 4.77 ERA) and freshman lefty Kevin Perry (3-4, 5.21 ERA). The order of the last two pitchers has not been determined. Duke has a 5.99 team ERA.

Clemson is tentatively set to start senior righthander Scott Berney (7-4, 2.41 ERA) in game one, freshman righty Jarrod Schmidt (6-0, 2.24 ERA) in game two, and senior righthander Ryan Mottl (6-2, 2.77 ERA) in game three. Clemson has a 3.12 team ERA.

Clemson is led at the plate by Jeff Baker with a .357 batting average. Clemson is hitting .287 as a team and has a .970 fielding percentage.